On October 3, 1926, in Beihai Park, Beijing, Xu Zhimo, a talented man of a generation, and Lu Xiaoman, a famous lady in the Beijing circle, held a grand wedding here.
Among the more than 200 guests present, there were host Hu Shi, witness Liang Qichao, accompanying person Jin Yuelin, and famous tutors of Tsinghua Guoguo College, Zhao Yuanren, Chen Yinke and other heavyweights, and the wedding lineup was very luxurious.
At this grand wedding of the century, the groom Xu Zhimo was proud of the spring breeze, and the bride Lu Xiaoman was radiant. Just in this lively autumn night, no one saw the sadness and loneliness of another shadow.
He is Wang Geng, Lu Xiaoman's ex-husband. Thinking back to the wedding that also caused a sensation in Kyoto four years ago, Lu Xiaoman was also like this; but now, the groom is no longer him.
On the eve of the wedding, Wang Geng received an invitation from Xu Zhimo. At one point, he wanted to go to the wedding scene to personally send his blessings, but his friends were afraid that he would be sad and blocked him. Wang Geng ultimately did not attend Xu Zhimo's wedding with his ex-wife. But even so, he still sent a very rich gift, and the congratulatory post was seven words written by himself: bitter and sweet to know the taste.
These seven words are a blessing to Lu Xiaoman, and also Wang Geng's self-deprecation: Lu Xiaoman is bitter with him; he is with Xu Zhimo. Now that she has worked hard, she can finally taste the taste of love.
At that time, the Shanghai newspaper reported on the matter with the headline "Wang Geng's wife, extraordinary temperament; Shima married a woman, Wen De'an was there." Twelve words made Xu Zhimo feel ashamed.
However, in the repeated interpretations of later generations, Xu Lu's love story has become more and more widespread, and the details of their feelings can be accurate to a love letter and a nickname, but the role of Wang Geng has only become a lonely figure in the few historical materials. As one of the protagonists of this intricate history of the Republic of China, Wang Geng does not want to be mentioned, but he should not be forgotten.
01- Marriage is appropriate
As we all know, Wang Geng and Lu Xiaoman came together in an arranged marriage. But in fact, the union between them is far less reluctant than people think. Before meeting Lu Xiaoman, Wang Geng was one of the top young talents in China.
Wang Geng, also known as Shuqing, was born in 1895 in Wuxi in a scholarly mendi. The ancestors of the Wang family had been officials for generations, but in the generation of Wang Geng's father, the family fell in the middle of the road. Fortunately, Wang Geng is talented and talented, and he is young and ambitious. In order to one day revive his family business, he studied hard since he was a child.
In 1911, after graduating from Tsinghua University at the age of 16, Wang Geng became one of the first batch of publicly-funded students to be sent to the United States because of his excellent academic performance and comprehensive quality. During his studies in the United States, Wang Geng studied at the University of Michigan, Columbia University, and Princeton University.
In 1915, the 20-year-old Wang Geng was invited to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point for his excellent results. Among his classmates was the American star Ehausenville.
In 1918, Wang Geng graduated with 10th out of 137 graduates in the class, becoming the only Chinese who graduated from two prestigious universities at Princeton and West Point at the beginning of the last century.
In that era, there were very few young people like Wang Geng, who had both liberal arts cultivation and West Point military academy background. Therefore, after returning to China, Wang Geng was quickly reused.
He initially served in the Beiyang War Department, but in the same year he was selected by The Minister of Foreign Affairs Gu Weijun to attend the Paris Peace Conference as a military attaché and translator. Later, Wang Geng was also selected by Liang Qichao, who loved cai, and became his proud protégé.
In Peiping at that time, Wang Geng was recognized as one of the most promising young officers. Coupled with his calm and dignified appearance, for a while, the celebrities in the Beijing circle who had daughters to be married in the family all dreamed of choosing Wang Geng, the golden turtle son-in-law. Among these people were Lu Xiaoman's parents.
Wang Geng's acquaintance with Lu Xiaoman began with a ball held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1922. This year, Lu Xiaoman, who was only 19 years old, had already fallen out of grace.
Lu Xiaoman's father, Lu Zifu, graduated from Waseda University in Japan, supported Sun Yat-sen's revolution in his early years, and successively served as director, counselor, and tax director of the Nationalist government in Nanjing. Lu Xiaoman's mother, Wu Manhua, was born into a family of eunuchs and gave birth to 9 children for Lu Zifu, of whom Xiaoman was the only one who survived.
Coupled with Lu Xiaoman's talent and beauty, the couple loved this daughter extremely well and poured a lot of effort into the cultivation of Lu Xiaoman.
With the support of a wealthy family, Lu Xiaoman, who has a talent for language and art, became proficient in English and French at the age of sixteen, played the piano well, and was good at painting. During his studies at the Sacred Heart Academy, seventeen-year-old Lu Xiaoman was recommended by the school to join the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in translation and reception work due to his excellent conditions. Then, with her witty humor, beautiful and generous personal image, she quickly became popular in The Social Circle of Beiping.
At that time, Lu Xiaoman was at a wonderful age, and there were many people who came to the door to seek relatives like carp crossing the river. However, the Lu family chose a son-in-law, cautious and cautious, and has not let go. Until Wang Geng, who was one of the thousands of miles, appeared, Lu Mu took a look at this great young man. Whether it is her bright political future or her loyal and upright character, the more she looks at it, the more she likes it.
For Wang Geng, this is also a marriage he dreamed of. From the first moment he saw Lu Xiaoman, he decided that the other party was the girl he had always expected: well-educated, Chinese and Western, talented, beautiful and agile. Moreover, Xiao Man's family is well-off, and he will certainly be able to help him develop a career in the future.
At the same time, in the eyes of 19-year-old Lu Xiaoman, Wang Geng is elegant in temperament, talented and personable, and it is really difficult for her not to be attracted to such a man. Otherwise, with her arrogant personality, if she did not follow the slightest point, she would not have been engaged to Wang Geng from engagement to marriage in only one month.
02 - Lonely people
On October 10, 1922, 27-year-old Wang Geng and 19-year-old Lu Xiaoman were officially married.
Their wedding was held at the "Naval Gala" in Beijing. On the day of the wedding, most of the dignitaries and dignitaries of Beijing City were present to congratulate, and the congratulatory gifts of the guests were almost piled up into a hill, and the major newspapers rushed to report on it. The scene of this wedding was huge, and the grandeur of the ceremony caused a sensation in the capital. Lu Xiaoman became the most beautiful protagonist of this ceremony.
However, when all the prosperity fades, life will eventually reveal a bland background.
After the two were married, Wang Geng was promoted to deputy commander of the Escort Road Army of the Ministry of Communications, and went out every day to be busy with work and conscientious work, while Lu Xiaoman stayed at home and spent a lot of leisure alone.
Comfortable and rich, rich and idle, this is the state of life that many people yearn for. But for Lu Xiaoman, who was born into wealth since childhood, her happiness can no longer be obtained from these commonplace things, she wrote in her diary:
"In fact, I don't envy Fugui, nor do I admire Ronghua, I just need a happy family, such as a partner, who knows that even this request can not be obtained, only ended up lonely all day, no one can say anything, every day just forced themselves to laugh and mix in the crowd." 」
Between the lines, Lu Xiaoman after marriage is complaining about one thing - loneliness.
Since getting married, she has stopped going to school and quit her job at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After all, as a married woman, she is no longer fit to show her face as she once did. However, for Lu Xiaoman, who has been prosperous for a long time and is accustomed to being held by the stars, she can't stand this kind of ordinary life.
Compared with Lu Xiaoman, who is keen on fantasy, Wang Geng is down-to-earth and stereotyped, industrious and pragmatic. He spent years in the United States, working in a Western way. Wang Geng was extremely strict with himself and scrupulously fulfilled his duties.
In order to get promoted as soon as possible and give his wife a better life, Wang Geng spent almost all his energy on work. Emotionally, although he loves his wife deeply, his love is too subtle and introverted, not the kind of lingering compassion that Lu Xiaoman pursues.
However, all this led to Lu Xiaoman's loss in his married life. For a long time, she was like a lonely match in the dark, waiting for a star to light her up. This fire was the later Xu Zhimo.
In 1924, at a social dance in Beiping, Lu Xiaoman and Xu Zhimo met by chance. At that time, Wang Geng had just been transferred to the director of the Harbin Municipal Police Department and lived separately from his wife, and Lu Xiaoman's emotional emptiness could be imagined. At the same time, Xu Zhimo has divorced and experienced emotional setbacks for Lin Hui because of love.
One is a personable, gentlemanly and romantic Jiangnan talent, one is a graceful and feminine, infinitely talented lady, two equally romantic and lonely people quickly rubbed out the spark of emotion.
After that, Xu Zhimo often pulled Hu Shi and went to lu Xiaoman under various pretexts, either to go to the theater or to catch a dance. But Wang Geng, who was entangled in official duties, did not notice the change in his wife. He already admired Xu Zhimo, plus the two were brothers in the same disciple, so whenever Xu Zhimo came to find the couple to travel, Wang Geng, who was focused on his work, also asked him to take his wife out to play without any guard.
Soon, Lu Xiaoman and Xu Zhimo fell in love. During that time, "Xiao Man's Diary" was full of lovesickness and mutual complaints about Xu Zhimo, Wang Geng was mentioned less and less, and even the title in the sporadic appearance was only a "he" word:
"Hate that when he was only writing interestingly yesterday, he suddenly came back..."
"Well written two days ago, he's back again. Originally, because he was in Tianjin these days, I only had a few days of leisure. ”
"I now know that there is no true love between husband and wife, and they still have to be entangled day and night, and the kind of torture they suffer physically can only be painful in their hearts, and cannot be for outsiders."
At this point, Xu Zhimo has become the person that Lu Xiaoman has remembered wholeheartedly; and Wang Geng's return home has become a burden and burden to Lu Xiaoman.
03- About betrayal
Regarding the betrayal of his wife and friends, Wang Geng, who was in the dark, was still unaware.
In the same year, he was transferred to the Harbin Municipal Police Department and asked his wife to accompany him. Lu Xiaoman was not able to refuse directly, so he could only reluctantly bid farewell to his friends in Beijing and went to Harbin to live for a period of time.
The icy and snowy north is not only far away from the prosperity of the capital, but also has a harsh climate, and more importantly, there is no one Lu Xiaoman cares about here. Therefore, after living in Harbin for only a short time, Lu Xiaoman returned to his mother's house in Beijing on the grounds of physical discomfort and separated from Wang Geng.
In desperation, Wang Geng had to write to his friends Hu Shi and Zhang Xinhai, entrusting them to help him take care of his wife. The letter reads:
"Suitable, Xinhai: I was about to reply to Xinhai, and the letter that happened to be suitable also arrived. Thank you two for greeting Little Man in various places and making me feel much more at ease. In the past few months, Xiao Man has had friends like the two of you, and the benefits and progress are not few, but it is only a greeting in the illness. She has her genius, and she can cultivate something that can be cultivated. In the future, when she recovers from her illness, I hope that the two of you will guide her to THE PATH AND LIGHT. ”
From this letter to Hu Shi, it is not difficult to see Wang Geng's good intentions for Lu Xiaoman. He cares about her life, recognizes her talent, and cares about her style. Even during the separation, he considered whether his wife was lonely and invited friends in Beijing to accompany him.
At the same time, his wife's friends, whether male or female, Wang Geng sincerely welcomed. The understanding, love, trust and encouragement that can be given between husband and wife, Wang Geng has given all to Lu Xiaoman.
If Wang Geng is wrong in this relationship, then he is wrong in not being sober, wrong in overestimating human nature. It is precisely because of the tradition in his bones that Wang Geng did not imagine that his wife would betray him, nor did he think that the horizontal knife to win love would happen between friends.
In 1925, Wang Geng was promoted to chief of staff of the five-province coalition army and transferred back to Shanghai from Harbin. It was also at this time that Wang Geng realized the "emotional crisis" between himself and his wife. To this end, he wrote to his mother-in-law, hoping that she would take Little Mann south and reunite them.
However, in Xiao Man's day, this letter became "like an order from a commander to a subordinate, such a big tone", in Xiao Man's words, there was no shame, and there was no gratitude for her husband's intentions, she wrote: "I look at it while I plan to deal with it, although I am like an ambush on all sides, and I am not allowed to have the slightest repercussions, but my heart is always unwilling to give in..."
At this point, Lu Xiaoman's feelings for Wang Geng were only endless indifference and boredom. Soon after, she decided to divorce Wang Geng.
In the second half of 1925, at the behest of Xu Zhimo, the painter Liu Haisu (Lu Xiaoman's teacher) came forward to set up a banquet at the Gongdelin Hotel in Shanghai, inviting Lu Xiaoman's mother and daughter, Wang Geng, Xu Zhimo and a group of their friends. The name is a banquet, in fact, to intercede for Xu Zhimo and persuade Wang Geng to divorce.
At the banquet, Liu Haisu talked about life and love, emphasizing that husband and wife should be based on love and agreement. Wang Geng was a wise man, and he immediately understood the intention of this banquet. During the banquet, he raised a glass to Lu Xiaoman, Xu Zhimo, and a table of friends and said, "May we all create happiness for ourselves and toast to the happiness of others." ”
Then, Wang Geng said to Lu Xiaoman: "If you feel happy with Shima, I am willing to divorce, I wish you and Shima happiness in the future, and I will handle the formalities in a few days." ”
After saying this, Wang Geng pushed back that military affairs were leaving the table. Before leaving, he also asked Xiao man to take care of his mother and go home first, so as to preserve the last decency of the marriage between the two.
04- Desolate and lonely
Following the frustration of marriage, Wang Geng's career began to decline.
At the end of 1925, Wang Geng, on behalf of the Beiyang warlords, bought arms from White Russia, but the Belarusian side disappeared with the money. The Beiyang government came to investigate the matter and imprisoned Wang Geng for interrogation.
While in prison, Wang Geng received a divorce agreement from Lu Xiaoman. In the most difficult moments of his life, he signed the agreement. Before that, Lu Xiaoman already had Wang Geng's flesh and bones, but in order to divorce, she still insisted on beating up this child, which was a very heavy blow to Wang Geng.
It is not difficult to imagine how bleak his state of mind was at that time. At this moment, Lu Xiaoman, on the other end, ignored his mother's sadness and was rushing to Beijing for the first time to tell Xu Zhimo the news of his divorce.
In October of the following year, Lu Xiaoman and Xu Zhimo held a wedding ceremony in Beijing. By this time Wang Geng had been released.
After learning this news, Wang Geng showed a degree of generosity and generosity, he sent a generous gift to the couple, and said to Xu Zhimo: "We are all intellectuals, even if I divorce Xiao Man, there is no prejudice in my heart; Xiao Man loves you, you must be consistent with her after this, if you have half a heart, give me, will definitely use fierce means to oppose." ”
At this point, it can be seen that Wang Geng still loves landing Xiao Man. It's just that his love is not any romantic form, but a blessing buried deep in the heart, so that no matter how far away people are, they can feel a kind of steadfastness.
In 1931, when Wang Geng was the commander of the Independent Brigade of the Second Division of the Guard Army, he saw the news of Xu Zhimo's plane crash in the newspaper. He immediately rushed to Beijing to visit Lu Xiaoman, who was seriously ill. Later, he sincerely expressed to Lu Mu his desire to remarry Xiao Man.
Lu Mu was both happy and touched, because she had always liked this son-in-law. But on the one hand, Lu Xiaoman still loves Xu Zhimo deeply, on the other hand, her pride and self-esteem are not allowed. In short, Lu Xiaoman rejected Wang Geng.
But even if the two have divorced, there is no possibility of continuing the frontier, wang Geng always has a care and love for Lu Xiaoman.
In 1932, the "1.28" incident broke out, and Wang Geng shouldered the heavy responsibility of resisting the Japanese attack in Shanghai. During this period, worried about Lu Xiaoman's safety, he ventured across the concession to visit his ex-wife, but he mistakenly fell into the hands of the Japanese and was framed as a spy.
After being released by the Japanese army, Wang Geng was sentenced to two years and six months in prison by the Military Court of the Nationalist Government for "leaving the place of martial law without authorization and leaking a military aircraft." While serving his sentence, Wang Geng suffered from a serious kidney disease.
In 1935, Wang Geng was released from prison and transferred to Germany to treat kidney disease. After recovering from his illness, Wang Geng withdrew from the military. Some people advised him not to ask about state affairs from now on, but he still said: "If the country fights a foreign war, it will stand up." ”
In fact, two disasters and a frustrated marriage have seriously damaged Wang Geng's body and mind. Since then, he has never married and traveled to Western countries alone.
On December 8, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, and the United States, Britain, and the United States allied. On March 11, 1942, the Nationalist government decided to send a military delegation to Washington, and Song Ziwen suddenly thought of Wang Geng.
This year, he was actually sick and weak, but a strong sense of responsibility still drove him on the road. Unfortunately, Wang Geng died of illness in Cairo, Egypt, at the age of 47.
After Wang Geng's death, the North African Allies buried him in the Cairo Allied Cemetery, and his tombstone was engraved with the four characters of "Bow to the End". West Point commented on Wang Geng's life as honest, upright and patriotic.
Unfortunately, it is such a person with the talent of the country and the world and worthy of great responsibilities, but because of a love affair, he has lost his fate and died in a middle-aged guest in a foreign land. I wonder if Lu Xiaoman will remember at some point at some point that there was such a man who was frustrated with her in every afternoon with Weng Rui?